Radio, telecommunications, computers and other electronic applications rely on pulse generators, for example for sampling received signals. A pulse generator is either a circuit or a piece of electronic test equipment that is used to generate an output signal comprising rectangular pulses whose phase is synchronized to the phase of an input signal.
Synchronous burst generators currently used in most applications consist of either a phase locked loop (PLL) or a digital burst pulse generator. A PLL comprises a phase detector that aligns the edge of an input pulse trigger with the first of the N burst pulses. A digital burst pulse generator is derived from an internal time base. There are disadvantages to both synchronous burst generators that embodiments of the present invention are directed to improving upon.